Review: The Walkmen at Middle East It was strange to see the sparse instrumentation from which NYC’s The Walkmen drew their atmospheric, honey-dipped sound last Friday at the Middle East.

High On Fire | Snakes For The Divine Joining a metal band as a young 'un is a bit like getting hired as a burger flipper: you may dream of one day becoming Ray Kroc, but after years of toil, grease, and ridicule, you'll probably settle for store manager.

Xiu Xiu | Dear God, I Hate Myself The reigning King of Discomfort, Jamie Stewart, and his new bandmate, Angela Seo (who took Cold Caveward–bound Caralee McElroy's place last year), recently released a video for this album's title track in which Seo forces herself to puke in front of the camera.

Review: Melt-Banana at Middle East Downstairs For the unfamiliar, trying to figure out what's going on at a Melt-Banana live show is sort of like trying to transcribe the gibberish conversations of your characters in The Sims. It's really confusing and unproductive.